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Energy Prices

Grecian2K

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Though this topic might be significant enough to justify it's own thread for discussion (but if not, feel free to submerge it into the "Politics" thread)

With our current 12 month contract due to expire at the end of the month we have started to look around for it's successor. And BOY, WHAT A SHOCK! :eek:

I know that those pesky percentages have been bandied around in the press but, when converted to £ & p the forthcoming sh!tstorm is staggering (even before the "April Cap Review")

As relatively frugal users our current annual dual fuel spend is about £1,000 pa. Looking ahead to the next 12 months none of the (few) deals on offer will come to less than £2,100 for the same (precisely measured) consumption.

The best we can find (from our current supplier, thanks to a "loyalty deal") is £2,050. The rest of the (so called) open-market "fixed" plans are in the region of £2,150-£2,300.

With the bankruptcy ("or take the money and run" of some many of the smaller players?) the so-called "competitive market" the financial libertarians were once so proud to boast about has contracted back to the old, near monopoly (or even "cartel?"), of the "big boys" again. So much like that other branch of the energy industry, road fuel. That trusty old upstream/downstream model, where the Mr Upstream forces the prices up to Mr Downstream to pass on to the punters, secure in the knowledge that those ill-gottens will still end up in the same, capacious pocket. Capitalism red in tooth and claw. The nudging towards a private (rather than public) monopoly continues apace.

Two things though. Even when the media are reporting upon headline inflation around 4%-5% (which is bad enough) how the hell can any sane person ignore price rise of 100+% without comment...nay ANGER. And before anyone accuses me of ignoring the effect of "world events" please answer me this.

One thing in the home energy market that has always annoyed me is that split (even back in nationalisation days) between product and standing charges...a device much used in the fragmented market to confuse and confusticate the consumer. (So, for example, that during the summer when we are using booger-all gas, we are still paying richly for the privilege of having all that little used pipework and metering)
But it is what it is, I suppose. :(. However, while I can appreciate that "global events" can directly affect the costs of the raw product (increases of 195% in the gas element and 88% for the electricity part in our case) how the clucking hell can they justify "inflation busting hikes in the fixed charges as well (a curiously exact 25% for the gas bit and 12.5% on the leccy). Is it because they are having to employ armies of expensive specialist "security guards" to escort these precious cargoes? Or just another sly, backdoor way of slipping through extra bunce to fund their bonuses and shareholders?

So there we go...even before the imminent "cap review" we are facing having to find twice as much from our respective pensions just to keep the lights on and the house tolerably warm. And, as I've said, our consumption is still considerably below the recognised average. And this on top of all of the inflationary pressures on the likes of other things (like council tax, water rates, food etc) - you know, all of those other little "luxuries" that we should be grovellingly grateful for. And, let's admit it, in the faces of the above figures even the reduction of the 5% VAT on home energy will be like peeing into a hurricane)

Thankfully, if we are prudent we should still (just) be able to manage but many of the poorer paid won't. Whether it's the NI raid, the reduction of UC, the punitive attack on jobseekers this sort of assault on personal finances for those already with the least (the old "JAM's" of Cameron law) April 1st is going to the THEIR "Fool's Day". No wonder, at the moment, the runners and riders for the No 10 Handicap are keeping their old nags in the stable (Mad Nad excepted of course). Let BOoBoo inherit that as his final badge of shame and then ride to the rescue...once the "annualised figures" can be compared with 2022's financial disaster.

Happy Easter.
 

angelic upstart

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The minimum price is rumoured to be going up £300 annually in April. So most people will be paying at least double what they were a year ago.
 

Oldsmobile-88

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In RaWZ we trust....Amen.
Standing Charge for energy is one of the biggest rackets going.

Money for old rope for suppliers.
 

Grecian2K

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Standing Charge for energy is one of the biggest rackets going.

Money for old rope for suppliers.
Cheers old chum. Always knew I could rely on the knowledge of someone "in the know" from the energy sector 😜
(But surely you meant to say "money for old pipes and cables"?)
 

Oldsmobile-88

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In RaWZ we trust....Amen.
Cheers old chum. Always knew I could rely on the knowledge of someone "in the know" from the energy sector 😜
(But surely you meant to say "money for old pipes and cables"?)
Yep.

The Standing Charge in the gas industry pre 1996 in the gas market paid for the infrastructure,running the free 24hr emergency service,metering & repairing small gas escapes in domestic properties for free.

It disappeared when there was a national gas transporter-Transco after 1996 with the deregulation of the domestic market.Transco charged a transportation fee to the new suppliers in the market,which covered all of the above except the free repair of gas escapes downstream of the meter.

Suppliers started to add the Standing Charge again after a couple of years for no particular reason except they could with such a weak regulator Ofgas(now Ofgem)
 

angelic upstart

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Suppliers started to add the Standing Charge again after a couple of years for no particular reason except they could with such a weak regulator Ofgas(now Ofgem)
Better than that, OFGEM made them charge it until 2018 (I think). Consider it the line rental....
 

cannockred

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Looking forward....
Our electricity bill in spain is 248% higher than last year on the same consumption. The unit cost of the cheapest unit of electricity (between 12 am and 8am ) is 7cents a unit higher 😲 than the most expensive one 3 months ago.
 

Grecian2K

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Not wishing to be nosy Cannock but what is your current annual bill (converted to British money).
Just for comparison purposes
 

cannockred

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Looking forward....
You can be nosy. It's around 240 euros a month in the winter and around 100 in the summer. We don't have any mains gas in mijas, so all electric.

Fortunately, the summer's are quite reasonable 😐
 

Spanks

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When our last deal ran out we decided not to renew, but stay on the variable tariff. That was capped, holding the price down, whereas the fixed rates are already double what I'm paying now, let alone our pervious fix. Even with a 50% increase in the cap, I'll still be substantially better off than fixing, and able to fix at any point, if that becomes viable.
 
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